Live news and politics: John Howard slams ‘nazi appeaser’ comments, suspected bird flu case found in NSW

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A woman has been handed a community work order for punching Lidia Thorpe outside the MCG over claims the senator disrespected her mother.

Ebony Bell was initially told to undertake an anger management course after her 2024 attack on Senator Thorpe, but committed a second “gratuitous act of violence” while on bail, Melbourne Magistrates Court was told in June.

The 29-year-old admitted she assaulted a security guard at a regional pub in August 2015, six days after facing court over her attack on the Victorian senator and weeks before pleading guilty.

Bell was on Friday handed a $300 fine and 12-month community corrections order with conviction for the two bouts of offending.

Details of Bell’s assault on Senator Thorpe can finally be revealed, after a suppression order banning reporting on it was lifted.

- with AAP

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Former prime minister John Howard says Labor’s claim that Liberal Party hero Robert Menzies was a “nazi appeaser” is “beneath contempt”.

During a National Press club appearance on Thursday, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy took aim at the conservative war-time prime minister’s record in standing up to Adolf Hitler in the late 1930s.

The comments sparked outrage from Opposotion MPs who tried unsuccessfully to censure Mr Conroy in Parliament and demanded he apologise.

In a statement to The Nightly, Mr Howard, who has long admired Mr Menzies and written a biography of him, lashed out at the comments from the Labor frontbencher.

“Pat Conroy’s comments are beneath contempt,” he said.

Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins says she is coordinating with experts in animal conservation to prevent Australia’s threatened species from contracting H5 bird flu.

Ms Collins told reporters on Friday that she was working with wildlife experts, Environmental Minister Murray Watts and Threatened Species Commissioner Dr Fiona Fraser to ensure native creatures were protected.

“We have been preparing and providing funding for additional biosecurity,” she said.

“As an example, in Tasmania at the Hobart Zoo and Aquarium . . . for increased biosecurity reasons (for) captive populations of those threatened or endangered species.”

A shocking and explicit statue depicting Donald Trump and Anthony Albanese has been swiftly removed from a Melbourne park after appearing overnight, with police now investigating the stunt.

Commuters were left stunned on Friday morning when they discovered the provocative installation in Gordon Reserve, directly opposite Victoria’s Parliament House.

The piece showed the US President standing over a kneeling Australian Prime Minister, with a fountain feature spraying water from Mr Trump’s waist toward Mr Albanese.

A plaque attached to the work, titled The Golden Opportunity, included the crude inscription: “May I lick your boots, boss?”

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Australia has ramped up preparations for potential bird flu incursions, with Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins saying the country is “prepared” and there is currently “no evidence of mass mortalities” in wildlife.

Ms Collins said that the Government had been working closely with the egg and poultry industries to reduce the risk and strengthen response plans for H5 bird flu.

She said recent suspected positive cases in migratory birds were “disappointing” but not unexpected, given their long-distance travel patterns.

“At this point in time they are single migratory birds and we have no evidence of any mass mortalities in any other birds or animals in Australia,” she said.

NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty also moved to reassure consumers, urging Australians not to panic buy eggs or chicken products.

“Keep buying eggs, keep buying chicken. There is no spreading to our poultry in New South Wales,” she said.

Ms Moriarty confirmed that one bird in NSW was being tested at a national laboratory to determine the strain of H5 bird flu, while cases had so far been detected mainly in Western Australia, with a small number in South Australia and a single suspected case in NSW.

Officials said the situation remains a national issue, with monitoring and testing continuing across affected regions.

A political row over Sir Robert Menzies has escalated after former Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo pushed back on Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy’s description of the former prime minister as a “nazi appeaser”.

Mr Conroy doubled down on his comments today, refusing to apologise for remarks made at the National Press Club and insisting that they were “historical fact”.

Mr Pezzullo told Sky News that the label was overly simplistic, arguing that if Mr Menzies were to be described that way then figures such as British prime minister Neville Chamberlain and US president Franklin Roosevelt would also fall into the same category.

“I don’t think any of them were nazi appeasers,” he said. “They had a policy of appeasement to try to buy time because they thought, only 20 years after the First World War, their countries were still devastated and needed time to rearm.”

Mr Pezzullo said that he understood the minister’s broader historical point but questioned the usefulness of the label.

“There was a big push to try to appease Hitler … to try to buy time. But I just don’t know that the label helps,” he said.

H5 bird flu has been detected for the first time in the Perth metropolitan area, in a migratory seabird found dead at a popular northern suburbs beach.

The discovery of the giant petrel at Mullalloo Beach has sparked a warning to Perth pet owners.

Preliminary testing on the bird returned a positive result this morning.

Food and Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis said that she was expecting results to be confirmed over the weekend.

If confirmed, it would be the sixth confirmed case in the country and fifth in WA.

The Commonwealth Bank is set to cut more staff from its technology teams in the latest round of job losses at Australia’s biggest bank.

Employees were informed today of the cuts as the bank continues to reduce its tech workforce.

A bank spokesperson said it employs about 49,000 staff and regularly adjusts its workforce to meet changing business needs.

“Within a workforce of this scale, there is ongoing movement through hiring, internal mobility and recruitment in priority capability areas,” they said.

“We also regularly review the roles and skills we need to deliver the best customer outcomes. Some tasks and skills required are changing, some roles are reducing as programs finish, and new roles are being created.”

The latest cuts follow earlier job reductions this year, including about 300 roles linked to the rollout of artificial intelligence across its retail, business and institutional banking divisions.

The Greens have accused the Federal Government of using NDIS fraud to justify deep cuts to disability spending, while agreeing stronger action is needed to crack down on dodgy providers.

In a committee report, the Coalition said unregistered providers remained largely beyond the regulator’s reach and called for tougher entry checks that assess not only qualifications but also whether providers are suitable to work in the scheme.

Greens NDIS spokesman Jordon Steele-John said fraud was a serious issue but warned people with disabilities should not be treated with suspicion because governments had failed to stop those exploiting the system.

He said Australians deserved an NDIS that was protected from fraud while remaining focused on the rights of participants.